Carlos Alcaraz made it to the Rio Open final last year, and he's back this year, so let's see how his first-round matchup against Thiago Monteiro might go.
The Spaniard made his return to tennis this past week by playing at the Argentina Open. It's something he signed up to do last year, as he won the event in 2023 and gladly returned this year to try and defend his trophy.
He didn't really do that, as he lost to a very inspired Nicolas Jarry in the semi-final. It was a painful loss for Alcaraz, which he lamented after the match, but there is no time to waste because a new event is coming up.
He's in Rio, where he made it to the final last year but lost while battling an injury against Cameron Norrie, so expect a motivated Alcaraz this week as he hopes to win it.
The first test won't be easy as he's facing native player Thiago Monteiro, who has had some great performances in Rio de Janeiro in the past. He can also be very tricky to play generally, so let's see what might happen here.
Head-to-head:
Alcaraz and Monteiro have faced each other twice so far, but it happened on hard courts both times. We never saw them play on clay courts before, which isn't ideal, but we generally know how this matchup might go.
Alcaraz must be careful around the Brazilian's serve, as he had great trouble with that against Jarry. Monteiro will need to find a way to limit the errors in rallies and try to serve as well as possible. He wasn't able to do that in the previous matches and lost easily both times.
Prediction:
Whatever the Brazilian does here won't matter much if Alcaraz plays the way he can. He's the far better player, even this struggling version, so I think this will be a painless win for the Spaniard.
Prediction: Carlos Alcaraz to win in two sets.
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